Monday, June 9, 2014

A Second Look at a Saylor Source

Sometimes I find it helpful to return to a source I found earlier. It may have given me leads but because of my lack of experience or lack of knowledge of the family I may have missed something useful. Having done more research on the family and having more records available online since first seeing a source can give new insights. So if I have more work to do to find the family, I go back to earlier sources.

I wrote about this biography of Peter Saylor several years ago which I found it in A Twentieth Century History of Mercer County....
Having recently found and combed through John Froman's intestate court file, I decided to return briefly to his wife Catherine (Saylor) Froman's family
of birth. This biography names Peter Saylor and "Catherine, widow of
John Frohman, of West Salem Township" as children of Jacob Saylor. A
careful reading shows that Catherine and Peter are half-siblings with
the same father but different mothers. (Click on the image of the page to
see a larger view of it.)

This time through I gleaned more information:
Jacob Saylor
born in 1812 in Baron, Germany
immigrated to the U.S. in ~1852
died about 1870
father was Daniel Saylor, died ~1845

Children of Jacob and Elizabeth
--Jacob, who died before 1909
--Fred, who died after 1909
--Elizabeth, who died before 1909
--Catherine, wife of John Frohman, died after 1909
--Theresa, wife of Adam Leninger, died after 1909
--plus 9 more unnamed children

Jacob and Mary Frohman, married after 1858
Children of Jacob and Mary
--Peter who married Caroline Schank
--Melinda who married August Brooks
--Anna who became Mrs. Whorton
--Josephine who became Mrs. Callahan
--Louisa who became Mrs. Welk
--Otto
--Alexander

As with any source of information, I'll compare this against other information I've found in other records.

Last week I was searching through the Mercer County Probate Records on FamilySearch and found this:
Could that Jacob Sailor, first on the list, be "my" Jacob Sailor? Could that Mary E. Sailor be Mary Frohman Sailor, wife of Jacob Sailor? Could this estate file give me enough information to connect my Catherine (Saylor) Froman to this Jacob Froman? I requested the records from the Mercer County Courthouse. I hope they are not tiring of my requests. With the last request I was informed that, in future, there will be a $5.00 search fee for each name in addition to the 50 cents/page cost for copies.

On another note....
I admit that I'm still tied to paper in many ways. There's something about the information sticking in my brain when it goes through my eyes, through a pencil onto paper, and back through my eyes into my brain. Something about writing it imprints it.

I especially like this genealogical concept map. It's clear, concise, simple format is helpful for recording information such as the names and dates on the county history. Using this form puts order to the family instead of having just a list of names and dates. In once glance I can see much of the basic information for an individual or family.

It's interesting what we see the second time around after a year or so, isn't it, Wendy?

I hope I found the connection. I looked at Jacob's will today on FamilySearch. He didn't mention his children by name, unfortunately. The Mercer County says there are two files - one is 74 pages long! I don't know how long the second one is but I'm going with the 74-page one first and see if it gives me what I need. I hope this is the right Jacob Saylor or I will have wasted $42.00!

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About Me

Sometimes I want to jump back in time, into the lives of my ancestors. Not to stay, of course -- too many modern conveniences I'd rather not do without -- but to meet them and watch their interactions with each other. Since I can't do that, I spend time learning about them and the times in which they lived. I look forward to meeting them. I've been seriously searching for my ancestors for nearly 8 years. I plan to continue indefinitely.
If you think we might have ancestors in common or you'd like to contact me for any other reason, please email me at myancestorsandme @ gmail.com.